A wee trouble

Maybe it's just because I've been away or maybe it really has become more common. But my subjective, unscientific experience is that "wee" has reached epidemic proportions. It has always been used in its literal sense, and has long been part of the charm of the Ulster dialect. But it is increasingly often being used as a verbal tic, a piece of filler that says less about the text than it does about the subtext. Contiue reading...

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The great Shibboleth

I have a confession to make. As a card-carrying letsgetalongerist and liberal Eurotrash it feels like an admission of failure, even treason. But after reading this article in the National Geographic (an advertorial, but even so), the spirit moves me. I despise "Derry~Londonderry". Not the place, of course. I have nothing against the buildings, streets…